How Did This Even Happen?
by Therealgirlygeek
Summary: Sometimes, the forces that be do not want to let your life be easy. At all. I don't know what I did to attract this attention, but all I know is that now, I have three Araluen Rangers to educate in the ways of the modern world. (Purely fluff and silliness... okay, mostly anyway! OC based upon me(heavily)).
1. Snow Days Save My Sanity!

**Hey, guys! It's Wednesday!  
Well, it is for me when I'm uploading this, anyway. Alright. For those reading my other story, ****_Skandian Slaves_** **, this is really just fluff, and this is way pre Royal Ranger. Heck, it's pre Sorcerer of the North for the canon characters, so... yeah. I was inspired whilst reading past the fanfictions that existed since Royal Ranger(Yes, I went to the 2010 stories out of utter boredom and need for fluff). So, this is literally just fluff... also, anyway. That goes for everyone. The part to the readers of my other story now:  
THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SKANDIAN SLAVES. It's also going to take my Wednesday updates(Sorry, I came up with the idea the day after I posted the latest chapter there!), so Saturdays are ****_Skandian Slaves_** **, Wednesdays are** ** _How Did This Even Happen_** **. Yeah. Uh. Right.  
If you're ****_not_** **reading** ** _Skandian Slaves_** **and want something with a bit more plot and storyline to it, go check that out! As said before, that one updates on Saturdays. Okay, now I'm done advertising that story.  
Anway. Uh. Yeah.  
Disclaimer: I'm not Australian, so I'm not John Flanagan. He owns Ranger's Apprentice, not me.**

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 **One: Snow Days Save My Sanity!**

The first thing I'm going to tell you is this. I have no idea how the following happened. If you can come up with any plausible ideas, please tell me. I've been trying to figure it out since I woke up at five-thirty in the morning when it's windy, snowing, and cold, to the trio of Araluen Rangers on my living room couch with snow melting into the carpet on a Monday morning before school. I had stood there blinking for a good ten minutes before I got up the courage to bother any of them, after going upstairs and finding the most shield-like thing I could - which just happened to be a wooden chair. Great.

I had gently tugged on one's cloak before realization tugged at my muddled consciousness, mind still half asleep, that I had _Araluen Rangers_ in my living room. _As soon as I can, I am going to my room and hiding the books,_ I told myself grimly. It wouldn't do for any of them to know that I knew the deepest, darkest parts of their pasts - and, depending on when they were pulled from their literary existence, futures. Then the realization struck as the saxe knife cut cleanly through the chair that I had bothered quite possibly the _least_ understanding of all three. Great.

I dropped the chair and promptly tripped on the sleeping form of one on the floor, banging my head on the coffee table. I groaned, and managed to roll away from Halt's angry gaze to turn on the light. They were masters at unseen movement - it would help nobody if I left them in the shadows, their natural habitat. I temporarily blinded Halt - a feat to behold, I realized dimly - and startled awake the other two. Or, at least, startled them upright, since I was certain the one I had tripped over was awake as soon as Halt's saxe was out. Before any of them could attack me, I held up my hands in surrender and decided to abandon any pretenses of not knowing the slightest thing about the males in my living room.

"I have coffee. Just don't kill me."

Things went much easier for me after that, to say the least. Three cowls went down, and I realized that I was faced with a sixteen-year-old Will, Gilan, and Halt. All Three were armed, and I stared sadly at the floor now, realizing that they may have tracked in slightly more than just snow from outside. I groaned slightly - I would end up having to clean this mess up. Will was the first to speak up.

"Coffee?"

I sighed. I realized Halt's pain immediately now.

"Yes. That's what I said. Just… be quiet, please? I have sleeping neighbors who will not be nearly as okay with you three being in my house."

Two heads - Will and Gilan's - nodded. Halt didn't respond at all.

"You too," I said, directing it at Halt. He slowly nodded once he realized I wouldn't be letting this go, and I had apparently magic powers - I had turned on the lights in the room without fire or candles, after all. I was going to use this lack of modern knowledge to my advantage until I could explain it to them and not be in a situation where they were so extremely wary of me. Especially Halt.

"Also, I would be much, much more comfortable if…" I trailed off, realizing how ridiculous the request I was about to ask was.

"If?" That was Halt.

"Nevermind. Uh… just, don't freak out, please," I said. The fact that I wasn't already dead meant that they would probably give me time to explain, and it would be pointless to tell them to leave their weapons behind. I led them into the kitchen, and glanced at the coffeepot. I won't lie - I never drink the stuff, but my mom had coffee addiction problems as bad as any Ranger. I had watched her enough times, however, that I could probably figure it out.

My parents weren't even at home right now - my dad had already gone to work, and my mom was out for a few weeks on a school-related trip, since she was a teacher. I had full reign of the house. It was a good thing I had my license, then. A thought struck me, and I covered my ears for a moment as the coffee grinder started up. The three Rangers looked a little startled, too.

"So… uh," I started as soon as the deafening noise had stopped. I would have to act like I knew as little as possible about them, though I had already drawn the coffee card. "I'm Alyssa… what are your names?"

Will stiffened slightly at my name. It sounded a lot like Alyss, I realized. Maybe that could work to my advantage? Probably not. I pushed my short, dark brown hair out of my face as I set the coffeepot on to start.

"I'm Will, that's Gilan, and that's Halt," Will said, pointing to the two Rangers as he got to them. The full Rangers still looked at me warily, though Will seemed a lot more trusting. Which confused me - wouldn't his time in Skandia made him less trusting, rather than more? Ah, well. "How'd you know about the coffee?"

Shoot. I knew immediately that would come back to bite me.

"My mom's really big on it, so… I guess I just said it," I said. I know, it sounded weak. Halt's raised eyebrow told me that he agreed. I sighed mentally, before digging out four mugs and starting the kettle to make myself tea. I started to reach for the cabinet with the honey in it before I remembered that I wasn't supposed to know anything about the trio. That would have made them - especially Halt, I thought with a quick glance to the grim Ranger - more suspicious than they already were.

"Uh… do you guys like sugar, or milk, or… uh…" I trailed off, unsure how to continue that question already knowing the answer. Will seemed to get it, though. It was a good thing the sugar was also in that cabinet, I realized.

"Honey," he said.

"Oh, cool. Though," I said, glancing up with a worried expression at the quarter-full bottle of honey, "I think I might need to get more…" I thought about putting a satisfactory amount of honey into the Rangers' coffee, and then the heaping amounts I usually put in my own tea. "Probably today…"

The kettle clicked, once more startling all three at the table, and I hid a grin by turning around and dumping my tea infuser(filled with black tea leaves - it was the closest I got to coffee, since it had the same amount of caffeine) into the hot water after I poured it. My mug had a bow and arrow on it, and at the bottom on the inside, scrawled words...with one of Halt's more popular sayings, the one about how Rangers practice until they never get it wrong. I made a mental note to not give it to any three. I had painted the words myself, being the immense fan I was, so that would probably be a dead giveaway that I was acting. Thank goodness black tea was dark like coffee, and hid the words until it was empty.

I dumped maybe a quarter of the quarter of the honey bottle into each of their mugs, to their great joy(I thought I was the only one who put that much honey into a drink), and then opened the fridge. I forgot for a moment that the three were utterly, totally unaware of the modern appliances that made my life easier, so I startled them once more when I pulled the tupperware containing my hash browns(I'm a sucker for them) out of it.

"What's that?" Will asked.

"What? Oh, this. It's called a refrigerator, though usually we just call it a fridge… it keeps food and drink cold, but not frozen," I elaborated.

"What's the thing at the bottom?"

"It's a freezer. That's what keeps things frozen."

"What are you holding? Why did light come out of your… uh… fridge? What kinds of things-" Will started, and I held up a hand.

"Calm down! Is he always like this?" I asked, looking to Halt and Gilan. Secretly, I was smiling internally. This was just like Will. Of course, it would startle anyone who _didn't_ know him - and I was supposed to know nothing about Rangers, so I kept the charade up.

"Yes," both Rangers said in unison, and Will glared at them, before turning back to me.

"Okay then… Will, these are like…" I tried to find a way to explain hash browns without further confusing the boy. "Oh, like potatoes, but formed into patties, and they're really oily," I said, then realized I forgot the second part to my hash-brown breakfast treat - cheese. I dove back into the fridge, and pulled out a bag of mozzarella. Will's eyes widened.

"What-"

"It's cheese. You do know what cheese is, yes?" I said, cutting off the inevitable question. Will nodded, face reddening, and I could see the edge of Halt's mouth start to twitch up, and Gilan was making no such movement - his mouth was already in a smile. That was a good sign, that Halt was starting to smile, I realized.

"Also, the light is so you can see in the fridge. And I frankly don't know everything in my fridge," I said, and Will looked doubtful at that.

"You don't know everything in there?"

"No."

"No?"

I stared at him, and did my best to fight off my best Halt impression - _don't repeat what I just said back to me._ I held back the smile with surprising ability. Will got the idea. I also had to do my best in that period to not let my eyebrow go up. That would probably be a dead giveaway to Halt that I was holding something back, which was not a good idea. I turned back to the counter and pulled my tea infuser out, rinsing it out in the sink - to the shocked gazes of Gilan and Will, and Halt's non-visible shock - and putting it away. I then put together my hash brown cheese breakfast concoction - exorbitant amounts of cheese over the two patties I put on my plate - and threw it into the microwave with the cover on for a minute. I just started to ignore the surprise by this point. I dumped the last quarter of the honey into my tea and waited patiently for the microwave to finish while getting a fork and napkin. I glanced at the clock. It was six now, so if I ate fast…

Now the problem re-appeared in my head.

"Uh… so, I have school today," I said, to no registering response from the three Araluens. "I need to go there, and learn stuff, and I can't really… bring you?"

"Just leave us here then," Halt said - one of the first things he said all day.

"I don't…" I stopped. _I don't think it would be safe to leave you three here all day_. Yeah, that would totally go over well. "I don't know how good an idea that is," I quickly amended. I repeated my mental note to hide the Ranger's Apprentice books from them as soon as I got upstairs. This answer didn't have the best response, either, though.

"Why not?"

"I don't want you breaking anything," I said, my gaze slipping over to Will, who was trying to get up without being noticed to go investigate the fridge. "Will, no," I said, and he appeared shocked. Once more, Halt was trying to fight back a smile, and Gilan was trying desperately to fight back laughter. I turned an exasperated gaze to Halt. "Do you see what I'm saying? The last time our fridge broke, we had to buy a new one, and those _aren't_ cheap. I don't want to explain to my mother why we needed to buy a new fridge."

Halt was nodding, while Will sat back down sulkily. I sat down at the edge of the table that had papers, backpacks, and random plastic containers strewn about, balancing the plate on my leg and putting down my mug on a tiny space on the table after draining maybe half of it. The mug was also hidden from the Rangers' sight, in the case that one - namely, Will - got curious and looked over when it was empty. That would go over poorly, I was certain.

"So, uh… I would bring you, but…" I paused, trying to pick my words with what I knew of all three - which was quite a bit. "Two adults going in to school with me - particularly, two adult males in Medieval clothing - would draw attention that I don't want. Also, I would take Will with me, but…" I caught Halt's warning gaze, and realized I was on very, very thin ice. I gathered that Skandia had already occurred, then. "Once again, Medieval clothing. I could probably find something upstairs…" I made sure not to mention either Halt or Will's height. "Uh, at least for Will, while I'm getting my own clothes, and I could keep an eye on him - I could make up some sort of story about how he's from another school, and related to me, and was just shadowing me to get a feel for the school so that he didn't end up being in any other rooms." _Also, so that he doesn't get picked on for not knowing what a projector or a phone is,_ I added mentally. That wouldn't go over well with Halt. Bullying was a sore subject with me, too.

"I don't think I could find anything for you or Gilan, though," I continued, talking to Halt once more. "For one, Gilan's too tall, and for another, I haven't the slightest idea what I could come up with for either one of you being at school with me. Will looks about fifteen or sixteen, so he could blend in as a twin or slightly older or younger brother, or even a cousin, since I'm fifteen right now."

If Halt could actually shoot daggers at someone with his glare, I would be dead over a hundred times right now.

"Why can't we just stay here, though?" He said. My phone dinged, and I held up a finger to check it. There was a lot of snow - the idea just popped into my head that we might get a snow day. Sure enough, I just got an e-mail from my school saying that we had one.

"I guess you could," I said, and all three just looked at me with surprise. Will's gaze was riveted on my phone, though. Probably too curious as to what it was.

"Snow day," I said, and sighed at the confused looks. "It means that I have school off because it's too dangerous to drive, due to snow and ice outside," I elaborated.

"Drive?" Will questioned, and I sighed.

"Yes. It's like riding. But…" Hmm… how to explain cars to him. Luckily, I was spared the explanation when my dad texted me that he wouldn't be getting back that night because of snow. Apparently, there was a blizzard forecasted. Lovely. We never had those in the American Southwest, I thought. Some force decided to give us awful weather so I could educate the three Araluen Rangers sitting in my kitchen right now.

"Anyway," I said, stretching and taking my dishes and putting them in the dishwasher - I also promptly ignored Will's new stream of questions, telling myself I would put up with it after a shower - "I'm going to go take a shower and get dressed. Uh… also, can you three _please_ take off the muddy boots? My parents are going to _kill_ me if they see the carpet like that. Thanks," I said, not waiting for a reply, and dashed upstairs to take that shower and hide any and all things Ranger's Apprentice in my room. That would take a while, I thought with a sigh. _O, Cosplay and Sewing Machine, what a cruel twist you have given me_ , I thought grimly. I had so many custom-designed Ranger's Apprentice clothing pieces that it would take the time the shower needed to warm up and then some to hide it all. The books were the least of my worries.


	2. Please Don't Shoot the TV, Halt!

**Hello! I have more modern Ranger shenanigans for you... and man, I will say I had fun with this chapter. And the next one. Yeah. Anyway, reviews!  
**

 **ByTheOldOak(Guest): They don't have a clue. There's a reason the story is called "How Did This Even Happen?" XD NO ONE KNOWS(not even me... I'll come up with something!)  
**

 **Ranger-Corpses: Wow, thanks! I'm not gonna lie, I have some worries about people being OOC('some' meaning 'a whole lot'), but this makes me a bit more confident in my character-writing abilities. Also, I wish I had all that cosplay stuff! I have a cloak in my room, but this is giving me ideas for art that I could possibly try to convince someone I want on a shirt with RA quotes for a birthday or something. XD But, everything else is based heavily on me.**

 **india(guest): Here is more. Hope you like it!  
**

 **hopeweaver19: That makes me happy! I saw the older stories of this type and thought 'hey, that's a cool idea!' I'm so happy you like it! (Also, I love your story "Revenge"!)**

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 **Two: Don't shoot the TV, Halt!**

I stepped out of the shower to find my bathroom had filled with steam and quickly toweled myself down, throwing on undergarments and jeans before reaching a dilemma. I had grabbed the first shirt my hand fell on, and looking in the mirror, I realized with horror that it was one of my Ranger's Apprentice ones. Sadly, it was also one of my favorites - a quote from Halt: _You know, Gilan. Sarcasm isn't the lowest form of wit. It's not even wit at all._ It was a favorite quote, and one I had thrown at sarcastic friends whenever they ticked me off with it(The sarcasm, not the quote). The shirt had a small chibi Halt(designed by me) at the bottom, staring at the front of the shirt.

I was about to turn around and rummage through my drawer when I heard a loud _crash_ from downstairs and froze. _What the hell did they do,_ I thought, and glanced around quickly for a jacket or something I could use to conceal the words, at least. I could make some sort of argument for a video game character or something if any of the three saw the picture, but the words… The fact I simply owned this shirt was essentially a death sentence to any form of naivety I could have possibly had in their eyes. They landed on my Ravenclaw cardigan(I'm a bookworm, okay?) and I quickly threw it on, buttoning it enough to cover the words. I then threw open the door to see Will about to open it. I stared at him, and he blinked.

"Dude, what if I hadn't been dressed," I said calmly. _Or still in my Halt shirt, without a jacket over it,_ I added mentally. Will's face flushed a deep shade of red once he realized the mistake. I just nodded.

"Yeah. So. What was that crash I heard?" I asked, trying to keep any signs of what my friends(my Ranger's Apprentice-loving friends, anyway) called my Halt side out of my voice. It failed some, from Will's face and next statement. He smiled some, the flush reducing.

"You sound like Halt when you say those things," He said, and I fought back the sense of horror I felt from showing on my face.

"Do I? I never noticed. Anyway, what was the crash," I continued, leaving the room and promptly shutting the door. Will's flush returned.

"Uh… Gilan knocked over-" Will got no farther as I pulled him behind me. "Why are you so strong," he said in shock.

"PE is evil," was my only reply. That was part of the truth, anyway. The other part was that my best friend had some thing where she needed to roleplay Ranger's Apprentice whenever we went over to each other's houses, and she was extraordinarily strong as well.

"What's-"

"I'll tell you later," I cut him off and we went downstairs, where Gilan was hastily trying to pick up broken glass from the floor.

"Gilan," I said, putting conscious effort into keeping my Halt side out of my voice and not using his last name, like an annoyed mother might. His and Halt's heads shot up, and Gilan reddened.

"Yes…?" Gilan said. I glanced at his hands, and sighed loudly. No, my mother would never let me eat in here again, I decided.

"Stop… just, just stop," I said, and strode over and moved him out of the way. "You don't pick up broken glass with your hands. That's just common sense… In the kitchen, now, before you get more blood on the carpet," I sad, shooing him into the kitchen. I could at least mop up the blood in there. I turned to Halt and Will. "Neither of you touch it," I said, glaring at Halt. I then spun on the ball of my foot and stormed into the kitchen, pulling out the first-aid kit from the cabinet. I grabbed the neosporin and a box of band-aids and sat down across from Gilan.

"Hands," I ordered, and he held out his bleeding hands. I groaned. He hadn't done anything even remotely close to cleaning them. _Isn't he supposed to be a Ranger?_ I thought with exasperation. "Go wash them, now," I said. "I can't do anything with them like that."

Long story short, it took me half an hour and a good amount of fighting before Gilan was no longer bleeding everywhere and his cuts were taken care of. I went back in to the living room, and glared at the glass. I didn't even remember what it had been, but I was willing to bet that it was a flower vase of some kind. I shooed the remaining Rangers away once I returned with a dustpan and swept up all the broken glass, and my suspicions were confirmed when I saw the discarded, wilting flowers in the trash can already. _At least they got_ that _far,_ I thought. _This is going to be a long day_.

I was shaken out of my thoughts by the TV turning on. My head snapped around and saw Will, cowering from the remote, and the three Rangers looking at the TV with startled reactions. I realized that someone - probably parents - had left the TV on a romance channel of some kind. In hindsight, I only managed to tackle - and, consequently, save the TV from an arrow from - Halt because I caught him by complete surprise.

"Don't shoot the TV!" I shouted, barely managing to pry the bow out of Halt's grip. I fought back the waves of fangirl giggling that were threatening to give away my place as totally clueless. I was holding _Halt's bow_ , and was managing to pin down _Halt_ in my _living room_. My fangirl senses were trying to overpower me, but were shot down as soon as Halt's eyes landed on me.

"Give me back. My bow," he said, nothing but coldness in his voice. I was fully aware of Gilan and Will staring at my back in stunned silence. I had just done something incredibly risky, and we all knew it.

"No, and I'll tell you why," I said, and Gilan and Will were further shocked. Halt looked past ready to murder me, so I swallowed down my fear and continued. "Because, just like the fridge, I need the TV to _stay functional_. Meaning, _no arrows through the TV_ , got it?" I said, my tone of voice exactly matching Halt's. The two former apprentices watched this exchange with growing shock and worry. I continued on, despite the dangerous look in Halt's eyes.

"I get that nothing's the same here as in-" I stopped myself, realizing I almost said _Araluen_ and gave up the game. "Wherever you come from," I said instead. "I come from here, so I will tell you this - I know more about what is _normal_ here and what is _not_."

Halt and I stayed completely silent, looking into each other's cold eyes for at least ten minutes straight, neither of us looking away. At the end of that time, to my surprise, Halt gave in. _I beat Halt in a staring contest,_ I thought dimly, totally shocked myself.

"Now, I'm out of honey, so I'm going to go out to the store to get some more." _At least ten bottles,_ I decided. _And more coffee._ "I'm going to be out for an hour tops, and if I come back and see _anything_ " I paused and looked at each Ranger, holding their gaze for three seconds each, "broken, with an arrow through it, knife through or in it, or with any signs of sword usage upon it, _none of you_ will be seeing your weapons for at least a _month_. Am I understood," I said, with all the icy clarity that my friends referred to as my Halt voice. How better to get Halt's attention than by using my own Halt voice, I thought with amusement, and looked to each Ranger individually as they nodded slowly. They were all clearly somewhat terrified of my sense of control in the house, and decided it would be a very bad idea indeed to get on my wrong side. Especially after I had managed to stare down Halt successfully and not come out injured. I nodded.

"Good."

Then I swept upstairs to put on socks and my boots, along with gloves, a hat, a scarf, and a much better coat - I gave up on my search for a non-Halt related shirt. After that show, the three Rangers would no doubt want to know every single little thing about me, and it would only hurt my cause if I spent extra time just trying to find a shirt. I grabbed my bag and stormed out of the house to find honey and coffee for my Ranger houseguests. I decided to also find them some clothes while I was at it. It might not fit them completely, but it wouldn't hurt. I had a fairly okay idea what I could possibly find to fit them.

I got back to the house an hour later, tired, covered in snow, and dragging in bags filled with at least one new outfit for each Ranger, coffee, and honey. I took off my boots by the door and dropped the bags on the table, startling all three Rangers who were carrying a discussion there. From what I had heard, about me.

"I'm going to do my sweep of the house to make sure that none of you destroyed anything while I was gone. While I'm doing that, please put these things away." I detailed where coffee and honey lived in the kitchen, and told them to leave the third bag(Yes, I got a bag full of coffee and a bag full of honey) be until they were done and I returned. Without waiting for an answer, I swept out. I was still using my commanding Halt voice, I realized. I also realized that, should the three figure out anything about my love of their world, Cierra would want to know. Cierra was my best friend - along with the person who had introduced me to Ranger's Apprentice. I got up to my room and shedded my hat, gloves, and scarf, along with my sodden pants and socks. I changed out my coat for the Ravenclaw cardigan from earlier, and did my sweep of the house. To my joy, nothing was broken or with weaponry through it, or signs of weaponry ever having been through it in the past hour. I returned to the kitchen, where all three Rangers had finished their task and were staring intently at the third bag.

"So, I'm not going to lie to you," I started, making at least Will jump slightly. Maybe Cierra and my impromptu silent, unseen movement sessions(with the books as guides) weren't so pointless, after all. Startling Rangers with their own tricks was _fun_. "Your clothes at the moment are _not_ normal in this world. So, I got you each a new outfit."

To my joy and surprise, I had guessed each Ranger's size perfectly. The snow was starting to die down, and I realized that my dad might decide it to be a good idea to get back before the blizzard hit. I shot Cierra a text, and Will glanced at my phone.

"What's that?"

"It's a phone."

"What does it do?"

"Let me finish, then I'll show you," I said.

 _Hey, can you come over? -A_ I sent the text to Cierra. Maybe I could get her to break the news to them about their literary existence.

 _Why? -C_

 _There's something cool I want to show you… but uh… you need to be kinda calm about it? -A_

 _What is it? -C_

 _Just come here. -A_

 _Coming, A. -C_

I decided to give Will a game to play with, hoping he wouldn't figure out how to access anything else. Or even leave the app, since my background may or may not have been Ranger's Apprentice related(It was). I glanced at my games, and eventually fell upon a word search game. I opened it, and gave it to Will.

"Here. This is a game on the phone. It's a word search - do you know what one is?"

Will shook his head.

"Basically, you have to find the words… here," I showed him how to do it, and he watched with extreme interest. It was funny, and just got more so as Halt and Gilan crowded around to see, and started commenting on it. I left them to it, and soon there was a knock at the door. Halt's head snapped up.

"I got it," I told them, and opened the door calmly. "Hey, Cierra," I said, before stepping outside and closing the door just as Halt made a particularly snarky comment about Will's playing.

"What was that?" Cierra asked, not having missed it.

"Halt," I said, and her eyes went wide.

"Letmeinletmeinletmein-" I cut off her rapid begging to be let in to tackle the poor Ranger.

"They have no clue that anyone knows who they are," I told her. She gave me a funny look, glancing at the chibi Halt showing from under my cardigan.

"You're wearing -"

"Yes, I know. I've been covering the words all day."

"Wow."

"Yeah. I was up since five-thirty dealing with them." I smiled grimly. "I had to take Halt's bow or he'd shoot the TV," I remembered. "That was tense, let me tell you."

"You actually… wow. I want to know how that worked."

"I'll tell you - later. Can you… uh… make the fact that there's a book series about them known to them, please? Without getting either of us killed in the process? Or injured?"

"Why don't you just tell them?"

I felt like I was being watched, and I glanced at the window and saw Halt watching us. I raised an eyebrow at him, which he responded in kind.

"Yep… uh, why don't you just… come in? Halt's watching us," I told Cierra, making my lips unreadable by turning away from the window. I felt Halt's annoyed gaze in the back of my head. Cierra nodded, and I let her in. Will and Gilan were watching the door with interest, and Halt came back around, eyebrow still raised.

"Who's this?" Will started. "Where'd she come from? Does-"

I cut off Will's questions, and glared at Cierra, who was trying poorly to hide her smile.

"This is Cierra. Will, did you leave my phone on the table?"

Will nodded.

"I'll just go get that," I said, leaving the three Rangers with my best friend, and smirking. Oh, this would be good, I thought as I settled in a corner to watch the exchange after I had reclaimed my phone.

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 **I'm not gonna lie here.**

 **I really did _not_ expect this story to be as popular as it is. XD **

**So, since I'm finishing up my other story and doing a ton of drawing, I was wondering if you guys would like me to open up chapter suggestions? I have about six already written, but for future chapters, I'd love to take suggestions!**

 **It makes me really happy that people enjoy my writing this much. Thanks to all who read this! :D**


	3. Fangirls and Fanfiction!

**Hey! It's Wednesday again! Woohoo! Reviews:**

 **hopeweaver19: Thanks! It makes me happy that my random story makes you this excited! Happy I could brighten your day!**

 **whentheresawill: I never knew he was depicted as a dummy in fanfiction... huh. Anyway, glad people are in-character and that you find this funny! It makes my day!**

 **Ranger-Corpses: I'm not sure if 'backup' is the word I'd use... but, yes, this should be funny. ^-^**

 **Disclaimer: I'm not a guy, therefore, I am not John Flanagan... and, by extension, do not own Ranger's Apprentice. Though, I think that should be fairly clear since I'm writing on a "fan"fiction website.**

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As I suspected, Cierra made no move to contain her excitement, and for the second time that day, Halt was successfully tackled by someone. This time, a happily squealing someone, her words running together so fast that no one could catch a thing she said. When someone - Gilan - finally managed to pull her off of the startled, grizzled Ranger, she just went into a new squealing mess of joy, and no one knew what to do with it. I stepped in once she started asking questions along the lines of 'can I see you shoot?' and 'can Gilan show me the double knife defense?' Halt's questioning, slightly accusing gaze fell on me as I pulled my overjoyed friend away.

"I think a sword is a little dangerous. Besides, you don't even have the knives," I told her.

"I could borrow someone's!"

"No. You're borrowing no one's knives. I've already had to deal with one errant Ranger's cuts, and I don't want to deal with an errant wannabe-Ranger cutting herself with a saxe," I told her forcefully, using a little of my Halt voice. Cierra pouted.

"You're no fun, Aly," she said, her annoyed tone slightly playful. I rolled my eyes. I caught Halt's questioning gaze. _Explain,_ it said, and I sighed. Yep, it would come back to bite me.

We managed to get situated in the living room, all three Rangers - and Cierra - with coffee, me with more tea.

"So uh…" I said, glancing to Cierra. She pulled back a little. She realized now that she had way overdone it. "Where do you three want me to start?"

Now that our knowledge of their deepest secrets was known, I had given up the cardigan, and had turned up the heater. Gilan had glared at the words on it, while Halt seemed slightly amused, and more than slightly annoyed that I knew all about them.

"My parents?" Will said, and I exchanged a glance with Halt. He shook his head just enough for me to see.

"No can do, Will," I told him, and he seemed very upset by this. I knew, of course, but I didn't want to mess up their own histories.

"Something more simple, maybe? Pull out your books?" Cierra suggested. Halt's eyebrow went up.

"Books. Right. Those, are upstairs, in my room, and it's warm down here. So… uh… no?" I said, before turning back to the Rangers. "What's happened with you guys up to the point I found you three in my living room."

"We had just gotten back from Skandia," Will started, and I nodded.

"Got it. Alright. So, ah… there's a book series, focusing around… uh… your lives? Adventures, more like. Uh…" I said. "I can't really say much else…" I seriously did not want to alter the course of Araluen history by telling them how their lives went. I supposed it wouldn't be the end of the world if they got their hands on the first four books, but after that… I made another mental note, this one to hide books five through twelve very, very well.

"Book series." Halt sounded completely and utterly disbelieving. Cierra was basically bouncing in her seat. She wanted to rush upstairs and find one of the books, I could just tell. I shot her a glance telling her to just not, and she got sulky very fast.

"Yes."

"How many people here know about us?"

There's a question I couldn't answer.

"Well, there's over seven billion people on the planet, and it's a popular book series, so I can't really say," I explained, and Halt's icy glare bore into my skull. "However, I can say that the majority of my friends likes the series, so…"

Long story short, none of the three Rangers were amused. Cierra was visibly trying to become one with the couch cushions, and I was greatly regretting my choice to try and get Cierra to make the facts of their existence in this world known to them. Of course, then my dad just had to come home.

"Alyssa!"

All five of us froze. The three Rangers reached for their weapons, and I shook my head. I waved the three Rangers outside, apologizing quietly for the cold, and rushed back in to see my dad.

"Hey, dad," I said, trying to be calm. Cierra was outside with the Rangers.

"Hope your morning went okay," he said. "Did you get to sleep in?"

"Uh, no, I was up and in the shower once I got the e-mail," I said. It was a half-truth, anyway. I just stretched the time a little bit. "Uh…" Now, the tricky part. How to explain to my dad that there were three fictional characters in our backyard with my best friend and that I was wondering if they could stay.

"Which characters?" I heard his voice say, and I realized I had said that whole bit out loud. Ah, well. He didn't look nearly as mad as I thought he'd be, so that was a start.

"Remember the Ranger's Apprentice books…?"

"Yeah?"

"Uh… well, see, somehow they ended up in the living room this morning - don't ask me _how_ \- and they have literally no clue how the modern world works…"

"Well, as long as they don't break anything, or go in my office, me and your mother's room, or _sleep anywhere but the guest room_ , I personally see no problem with it, but your mother might not be so accepting."

"Right. Ah… right. Though, you _might_ need to replace the flower vase in here…"

My dad just looked at me.

"They broke nothing _else_ , right?"

"Nope," I said, leaving out the part about how I needed to tackle one to keep the TV in one piece.

"Okay."

I went back outside to face the three Rangers.

"So, my dad says you can stay as long as you don't break anything and stay out of his room and office. Uh… and, we only have the one guest room, so…" I left the sentence hanging. This was farther than awkward. This was just bizarre. By all rules of reality, the three(still cloaked - they put them back on after an agreement where they still had to wear normal clothes without the cloaks in public) Rangers in my backyard should _not exist in this world_.

"Great! Can I go show them fanfiction now?" Cierra said, and I paused.

"Before I give you an answer… _why_ , pray tell, are you showing them fanfiction?" I responded, eyebrow raised.

"Because I thought it would be cool." I pulled Cierra aside, out of earshot.

"You realize that most of that fanfiction holds spoilers for their futures, right?"

"I would just find fluff though!"

"No. They might get curious and find something they shouldn't."

"But-"

"Cierra, no."

I expected her to follow my answer. However, when I went upstairs to the guest room after cleaning up the mud, snow, and blood on the carpet(yeah, never being allowed to eat in there again), I found the three Rangers on the bed, looking over Cierra's shoulder with curious looks on all their faces. Or, in Halt's case, the closest he got to a curious look. Cierra was grinning madly, laptop perched on her legs. I facepalmed, and four pairs of startled eyes shot up at me.

"Cierra!"

"Sorry!"

I sighed. Will grinned happily.

"Alyssa! Come look!"

"I'm looking, Will." I glared at Cierra. She looked back sheepishly.

"I'm sorry! I found a bunch of one-shots about Gilan and Halt and I couldn't resist," she explained. I continued to glare at her.

"They are funny, though," Will said. The mischievous light in his and Gilan's eyes told me that they were getting plenty of prank ideas from said one-shots. Will pointed at something, and my face paled.

"What's 'Wilt'?" he asked innocently, and I swooped in and took the laptop.

"'Wilt' is something you do not need to know about, dear child," I told him, and Halt glared at me. Apparently, I wasn't allowed to call Will a child. I didn't care. I sent Cierra a look that said _this is why I said no,_ and she finally seemed to get the point. I would be hiding the laptop from the curious Rangers forever now.


	4. O, High School

**_Cough Cough Cough oh, hey guys... blows nose_** **Sorry. I'm sick... and medicine isn't helping much... uh... well, this was a great Valentines day. ...That, was very sarcastic... anyway. Uh, here's another chapter... oh, right. Reviews!**

 **hopeweaver19: I didn't realize it was so short... sorry about that!**

 **Ranger-Corpses: yes, he is a poor, sweet innocent child... it was fun to write that scene. ^-^**

 **TheReWriteWarrior: thanks so much! There will be more reactions, I promise ^-^**

 **Anyway -** ** _Coughs_** **\- Sorry. Anyway, uh... right. Disclaimer. I'm not John Flanagan... nor can I think of some witty thing to put here, so... yeah.**

 **Here's the next chapter:**

 **Four: O, High School, Don't Terrorize the Poor Apprentice...**

The next day, I was up at six. No, that's actually a lie - I was up at five thirty again, awoken by the sounds of agitated, coffee-deprived Rangers trying to operate the coffee machine. I rolled out of bed and pulled myself downstairs, still half-asleep, to the cloaked forms of three Rangers glaring wholeheartedly at the coffee grinder. Gilan noticed me first.

"How'd you make it work?" He asked, and I pushed my way into the semicircle of annoyed Rangers and gave an impromptu lesson on how to make coffee in the modern world before I pushed my way back out and made myself breakfast and tea. Cierra was already downstairs, dressed and eating. She hadn't apparently taken a shower, however. Which reminded me - I'd have to get at least Will to clean up if I were bringing him today. Halt had finally given me permission, on the grounds that Will came back, in the same state of being as he was now(though hopefully not coffee-deprived) and he came back when I did. I had no worries about this not happening, so I had agreed wholeheartedly. A little shocked, I couldn't promise against, but bringing him back not physically damaged in any way, shape, or form, I could promise.

I rapidly went through my morning routine, throwing on a blank dark blue t-shirt and a forest-green sweatshirt with the words _Trust the Cloak_ on it, with a chibi Will on the back, along with the same jeans, socks, and boots from the day before. I pulled my Ravenclaw backpack on, sliding my laptop(decorated wholeheartedly with decals from pretty much all my fandoms - mostly Ranger's Apprentice, though) into it, and grabbed my sketchbook and notebook bag before throwing together a couple tuna sandwiches and snacks into my lunchbox and a spare one I found for Will to use. I waited for maybe ten minutes for Will to return to the kitchen, with no such luck.

"WILL! COME DOWN HERE OR I'LL LEAVE WITHOUT YOU!" I called, and quickly heard a set of footsteps rushing down the stairs. Soon, Will's figure(without the cloak, thank goodness, don't know how I'd explain that at school) came into view, and Cierra pulled herself off the couch, backpack and lunchbox already in her grip. Will looked between me and Cierra, then the unstoppable stream of questions came from his mouth. I diluted it to him asking about our backpacks.

"Will."

"Yes?"

"Come on. I'll explain in the car."

"Car?"

"Did I say something else?"

"No…"

"Right. So, come on."

I led him out to the car, where Cierra got herself settled in the passenger side of the car. Will stared at it with wide eyes.

"What's that?"

"My car."

"Why'd she just go into it?"

"Because I'm going to drive the three of us to my school."

"Drive?"

I simply raised an eyebrow at him.

"It's safe, by the way."

I almost pushed him into the backseat of the car before settling myself in the driver's seat. I turned it on, and Will's yelp of surprise did not go unnoticed. Simply ignored.

"Cierra," I told her as soon as the questions started. She rolled her eyes and did her best to answer them. I noticed Halt watching from the window of the house as I pulled it out of the driveway and into the street.

It was a quiet ride, with the exception of Will's endless questions. I almost felt bad for delegating the answering of those questions to Cierra, but not completely. After all, she had almost revealed parts of their futures to the three Rangers, though possibly accidental as it was. This was her punishment for those actions, and I was perfectly content to leave the answering to her. Also, I was trying to drive while it was snowing, though lightly. I needed to focus on the road, not on the curious boy in the backseat. I was just happy that there hadn't been a blizzard.

We parked at my school. It was a tiny school, small enough that we didn't have a designated gym - we had to walk to the nearest community center for it. We were at least twenty-five minutes early, and the parking lot was still pretty empty, so I parked as close as I could to the school and got everyone out. Cierra and I had to almost pull Will along, since he kept getting distracted by things he had never seen before. Strangely enough, this included the parking lot itself, the portables(there were a couple used as computer rooms), the handicapped door button(not sure what this is actually called, but you know the blue buttons with the handicapped symbol - yeah, those things you pressed as little kids and watched in wonder as the door opened up on its own? Yeah, those things), and whiteboards. Thankfully, he had already seen computers before at my house, so we weren't held back on that regard.

My first period was Geometry, and that passed quickly(and, thank goodness, with few interruptions by Will). I had read ahead in the textbook while I was bored in class on Friday, so I just jotted down the notes and kept an eye on my Ranger charge. I had managed to set up a situation where he was in all my periods, so that certainly helped matters, since Cierra was _also_ in all of my classes. Funny how that worked out, huh? I sure thought it was.

Second period was also fairly incident-free, to my relief. Apparently, Will didn't have a problem with PE, nor with the walk down to the community center. As it was, we could barely keep up with him, and were respected from then on in PE for even just being friends with the Ranger(though, only we knew that part. They just thought he took fitness super seriously, which I suppose he had to as a Ranger). That had instantly made my top-five list of events in PE classes ever.

Lunch was… uh…

Well, we introduced Will to the rest of our school group of friends.

All of which love Ranger's Apprentice.

I'm not too sure that part was a good idea.

Really, really doubting it.

I had waved at my friends, and sat down on the chair they had pulled over for me. Cierra took her own spot, and Will glanced between the two of us, as if asking what he should do. I motioned to a chair next to me, and he gladly took it.

"Who's he?" one of my friends asked. Her name was Isabelle, though we all just called her Isa. She was raising her eyebrows suggestively.

"No, Isa!"

"What? What did I do?"

Will seemed confused, too, though his was genuine. Isa was acting.

"His name's Will," I told her.

"He's cute," she responded. Cierra rolled her eyes. I raised an eyebrow.

"No, Isa."

"So he's taken?"

Will, the poor thing, was utterly confused by this exchange. He wanted to know what we were talking about, since he could tell it was about him.

"Isa…"

"It was a totally innocent question!"

"Not really."

"It was, though."

"What happened to Henry?" Henry was Isa's boyfriend, last I had checked. Isa shrugged.

"I wasn't saying for me, silly! Nothing happened to Henry."

"Then stop asking about Will."

"I just want to know! The last time a boy joined our group, you and he -"

I cut her off with a glare. She shrugged. The other girl in our group, Cassidy, eyed me with suspicion.

"You sure you don't like him, Aly?"

I raised my eyebrow at her now. Will's eyes went wide as he realized what Isa was getting at.

"I already like someone, though!" he said. Two sets of eyes riveted on him, while Cierra and I exchanged a glance. We knew who he was talking about, but it wouldn't help Will fit in at school in any way if our friends knew that we had somehow brought Will Treaty to school with us.

"Who?" Both asked in unison. Will's face reddened. I cut in quickly.

"She's out of town right now," I said. "Visiting family in Ar-rrrkansas!" I said, quickly catching myself. I had almost said _Araluen_. Again. Cierra looked at me in disbelief.

"What's her name?"

"What's she like?"

"What's her favorite book?"

Will, for once in his life, was actually overwhelmed by questions - in the same manner he asked them. I wanted to laugh at the absurdity of this scenario, but held back.

"Uh…" Will looked to me for help. I shrugged. I wasn't sure what to tell him. Apparently, he had caught on that he probably shouldn't say _Alyss_ right now.

"She likes… uh… you know, I don't remember what her favorite book is, she has too many," he said, and I wanted to slap him myself. He didn't know any book titles in this world other than _Ranger's Apprentice_ , and he couldn't say that… unless…

"What's one of them?"

"Ranger's Apprentice. Right, Will? Though, he only just finished book four and can't find the others, so no spoilers," I said. This could get interesting. Will nodded, realizing what I was doing.

"Yeah. I… uh… I think I met you and Cierra at a 'convention' uh… 'cosplaying' as… uh…"

"Halt, right?"

"Yeah."

He looked at me gratefully. Isa raised her eyebrow.

"Halt? Is he _really_ that short? I mean, I know he's short, but _that_ short?"

Will raised an eyebrow of his own. The expression was contagious, and I blamed myself for introducing it to my group.

"It was a costume," Will said evenly. "It doesn't have to be exact."

Cassidy got an idea.

"Can we see it? Oh!" She turned to me. "Is he hanging out at your house? I saw you three get out of the same car. Uh… maybe we could all-"

"NO!" Me, Will, and Cierra shouted at once. Isa and Cassidy looked at us suspiciously. "Er… I mean, we have to go… do stuff after school. Yeah. Stuff," Cierra said, unconvincingly. Cassidy and Isa looked to me.

"What aren't you telling us, young Halt?" Isa asked, and Will snorted. I glared at him. He wasn't helping the situation in the slightest.

"Have I ever kept a secret from you," I said, and three voices said in unison:

"Yes."

I sighed. Cat was out of the bag now. At least I could convince Halt not to kill me if I explained that I had tried. Probably. Ah, well.

"Uh… well then. Will Treaty, meet my friends, Isa and Cassidy, the rest of my Ranger's Apprentice Obsessive Fan Group," I said. It was an accurate description of the four of us. Isa and Cassidy's eyes went wide, and Cierra and I had the foresight to plug our ears. Will wasn't so lucky as the intense fangirl squeal rang out in the room, and the poor boy was almost tackled. It would have been funny if I wasn't sure that Halt would find some way to drag this out of me, Cierra, or Will and I'd be at least injured for the next week. Cassidy was bouncing on the balls of her feet and looking at me.

"Can we please go to your house? Can I see Will shoot? Does he have his cloak? Can he teach me how to use it? You do have coffee right? Is Halt there too? What about-"

"Cassidy." I cut her off using my Halt voice, making Will snort once more.

"Yes?"

"One at a time, please."

I think Will finally understood why my nickname was 'young Halt' now.

"Okay. Can we go to your house?"

"Probably not."

"Why not?"

"I don't want you two to get shot."

"So Halt _is_ there!"

"I never said that."

"But then why would that be a fear? If it was just Will…"

"It's a no."

"But-"

"Cassidy, no means no."

She and Isa looked at me with what could only be described as puppy dog eyes. I sighed and relented. Ah, well, if they joined me on the injury train, none of them could pin the blame on me. I glanced at the clock and wolfed down my lunch just as the bell rang.

"C'mon, Will, we have music next," I said, and regretted the words as soon as I saw his eyes light up. Oh, please oh please tell me he hadn't invented 'Greybeard Halt' yet… well, even if he did, it would evolve into an interesting class, that's for sure.


	5. NEVER GIVE WILL A MANDOLA!

**Hey. Uh... I know this is a week late! I got caught up in so much stuff last week and felt like I was dying and it totally slipped my mind... but, really, that's no excuse.**

 **Reviews!**

 **falachen: Haha, thanks! I** ** _wish_** **my friends called me "Young Halt". I think, in real life, I'm too silly to actually get away with that but whatever XD**

 **Ranger-Corpses: I mentioned that for a reason, a reason to be revealed in this chapter.**

 **hopeweaver19: Haha, thanks!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own Ranger's Apprentice. Still can't think of a silly addition...**

 **Five: Never, EVER Give Will A Mandola. EVER.**

Okay. I learned one important thing that day.

NEVER. GIVE. WILL. A. MANDOLA.

Much less let him actually play it. Goodbye, all hope that I would survive the afternoon. Halt's actually going to kill me after this.

So maybe they had gotten back from Skandia a little earlier than Will had suggested… and just _maybe_ he had already had time to create his parody song, 'Greybeard Halt'. What made it worse was, the whole time, Cierra was recording him on her phone. If I believed in God, I'd ask Him for help. Like, right now. Because I held no doubts in my mind it would be going on YouTube - and, consequently, she'd show it off to the older Rangers. I also had no doubts that Gilan would find it hilarious, but I might as well either consider myself dead, injured, or stuck in a tree with the poor perpetrator of the song. We had a pretty tall pine in our yard, and I did _not_ fancy being up there all night.

Class had started out calmly, and normal - by 'I have Araluen Rangers living in my house and one sitting next to me' normal standards, anyway. Then we got out our instruments to practice, and I had been practicing what I had been practicing all month - my game songs! Yes, I am a geek and a nerd, get over it. What I had missed was that Will was glancing at the guitar and how I played it awfully suspiciously. Then his eyes had strayed over to the music instrument rack - and found my new worst nightmare. Yes, I suspect I will actually be having nightmares about this once Halt finds out, which he inevitably will.

We had an astounding music program at our school. As in, astounding to the level that we apparently had _mandolas_ in our assortment of instruments. A freaking _mandola_. I don't even know _why_ we had it, but we did. And Will found it. Lovely. As any sane person might suspect, he had instantly picked it up and started getting a feel for it, and that was when I noticed something up. Cierra had her phone out - we were allowed to in this class, not sure why yet - and had it pointed at Will. I was behind him, so I must have also been in the shot.

Okay, maybe I knew the words to the damn song better than I now wish I did. Once he realized I was behind him, he waved me over, a devilish smile on his face. Oh dear. I didn't want to know where this was going. I pulled the chair up next to him, and he started… Yep, hullo tree, my name's Alyssa. Will and I will probably be in your branches tonight. Anyway, he started teaching me the chords for the song… and insisting that I do it with him. This would absolutely wind up on YouTube. I was a sucker for puppy dog eyes, though, so I eventually gave in.

"Alright, fine, Will."

His face was the picture of devious innocence, if that even exists. He nodded to Cierra, and the room went quiet as the two of us started. Will started the first verse, and had decided we were doing the chorus… as a chorus. This would be interesting.

" _Greybeard Halt is a friend of mine,_

 _He lives on Redmont's hill,_

 _Greybeard Halt never took a bath_

 _And they say he never will._ "

This was where I started, glancing at Cierra. She had a stupid grin on her face, and when she was done recording, I was going to slap it off, I promise her that.

" _Fare thee well, Greybeard Halt,_

 _Fare thee well I say,_

 _Fare thee well, Greybeard Halt_

 _I'll see you on your way._ "

Now, there were silly grins on most faces in the room, including Will's. Although, come to think of it, his was there from the beginning. The concept of Halt finding out apparently hadn't crossed his mind yet. I sighed. He had also decided we were alternating verses, and the song was so utterly embarrassing I realized why exactly it was funny.

" _Greybeard Halt, he lost a bet,_

 _He lost his winter coat,_

 _When winter comes, Halt stays warm_

 _By sleeping 'mongst the goats._

 _Fare thee well, Greybeard Halt,_

 _Fare thee well I say,_

 _Fare thee well, Greybeard Halt_

 _I'll see you on your way._ "

Now, I'm just going to stop telling lyrics, since you probably all know how this goes from here. We finally finished, and Cierra stopped recording. She put the phone away, and I stood up, strode over to her, and slapped her in the face lightly, glaring.

"That better not show up on YouTube in an hour," I said. She shrugged.

"Halt has no clue how to operate the internet."

"I don't trust you."

I trusted her even less once the mischievous smile broke on her face.

"Oh, but Aly," she started sweetly. "You agreed to Will in the first place. If you get in trouble, it's not my fault," she finished. I growled at her, though I had to admit it was fun singing the silly dumb song with Will. I wasn't going to tell her that, though. It would just add fuel to the fire. I just dreaded what would happen later in the day.

I was right to dread. I looked on YouTube and saw that Cierra had uploaded it as _Friends Singing Greybeard Halt in Music Class_ and it was already popular on her channel. Lovely. Apparently, she had attracted all of the Ranger's Apprentice fans on the internet. I might as well just find the most comfortable spot in that tree right now, because I knew I'd be up there if Halt had his way. Though, of course, I would tell him it was Will's idea. Cierra had gotten a ride home with Cassidy, so I was left with just Will in my car. The ride back was as loud as the ride there, though this time I was tasked with answering the never-ending questions. I had a new respect for Halt's patience now. We pulled into my driveway, and went inside.

I was instantly nervous. I couldn't see Halt or Gilan as I walked inside, and the house was suspiciously silent. Usually, I'd decide this was a good sign, but from what I knew, Gilan had a knack for trouble - huh, seems to be a common thread with Halt's apprentices - and I did not want to be in the line of sight when he got an idea. I sent Will into the kitchen, and closed the door. I dreaded the task of finding two Rangers, but I needed to make sure neither was getting into trouble, so it was a task I couldn't avoid.

My job was made immensely easier as I heard something fall upstairs. At the same time, my nervousness went up tenfold. I rushed upstairs and threw open the door to the guest room, and felt a headache starting.

"What are you doing?" I asked, and was faced with Gilan looking at me innocently. He had set up some kind of fort in the room, and I don't think that my dad would be too happy with it.

"What do you mean?"

I raised an eyebrow and gestured at the fort in the middle of the room.

"Oh. That. Well, I was bored…"

"I heard something fall."

"When did you get back?"

"Just now. What did you drop," I said, seeing his nervousness for just an instant.

"Nothing," he said.

"Gilan."

We held that stalemate for a few minutes before Will came upstairs.

"Alyssa?"

"Hm?"

"Where's - Cool!" Will caught sight of the fort and was starting to run over to it. I snagged his arm before he got too far.

"Where's what?"

"The coffee machine."

My head snapped up to face Gilan.

"Gilan," I said warningly.

"What?"

"That lives _downstairs._ "

"Aw."

I made sure the captive coffee machine was safely back downstairs before letting them go do… whatever Rangers do with a blanket fort. Halt hadn't been upstairs, so that left a mystery unsolved, which I didn't really want to have to solve. Once again, Ranger hide-and-seek would not be a good idea, and I decided not to bring up the possibility with them. Particularly Gilan and Will, since they would no doubt latch on to the idea and not let go.

I finally found Halt practicing his archery in the backyard. Ah, at least he wasn't doing something too destructive, and he had set up his own targets. I had my own bow - recurve - in my room which I practiced with, hence the targets.

"Welcome back," he said without turning around.

"At least you aren't trying to kidnap the coffee machine," I said. Halt turned to me with a raised eyebrow. "Gilan," I explained, and he seemed to understand.

"Will's fine, right?" He said, and I knew it came from a place of complete care for his apprentice. I nodded.

"Gained a couple new fans, and may have a million new questions for you, but other than that, he's the same as he was before he left."

Halt nodded, and returned to his archery. I turned and left him to it, not wanting to get in the way of such a staple of Ranger life. He was determined to keep it up, even while separated from Araluen. I admired such dedication. An idea popped into my head, and I turned back around.

"Halt?"

"Yes?"

"Could I practice with you?"

That caught his attention, and after thinking about it for a moment, he nodded.

"Can't be any harm in it. While you're at it, can you try to convince my apprentices to do the same?"

I nodded, wondering briefly why he still considered Gilan his apprentice and then just decided to let it be for the time being. I jogged inside, and interrupted the happy boys in the blanket fort.

"Gilan, Will, Halt wants you two to continue practicing while you're here," I told them and heard at least Will groan as I popped into my own room and claimed my bow and arrows before returning outside. Halt glanced at my bow with interest.

"Didn't know you still used those here," he said.

"Most people don't use them. Typically, if you wanted to learn archery, you would do it with a compound bow… it has pulleys to lower the draw weight without lowering the power of the bow," I explained. "I started out with one, but decided to try with a recurve, and so far I don't think it's too bad. Nowhere near Ranger standards, but given my body shape and lifestyle, above average for our world."

If I didn't know Halt, he would have seemed totally uninterested. However, I knew every bit of Halt, so I could tell it was quite the opposite.

"How do you fight long-distance in this world, if you don't typically use bows, since it seems unlikely that there's no war in this world," Halt queried.

"Guns. They're… uh… complicated. I don't like them. They're also much louder than bows, so that's kind of a disadvantage, but those are typically used for warfare and hunting nowadays."

"Huh."

We practiced in silence until the sun started to lower, and I began to believe I was in the clear in regards to Will's idea in music earlier today. Of course, I should learn to stop looking at the finish line and look past it instead, since my hopes were shattered when the doorbell rang. I dashed downstairs and opened the door to see Cierra.

"What are you doing here…?" I asked, nervous.

"Parents are having me stay with you for a couple weeks while they're out of town for work, and since they don't trust me alone at home. Can you believe it?"

"Yes, I can," I said honestly. She frowned at me before her face lit up again. Oh no.

"Did you show them the video?"

I blocked the door. She took that for a no.

"Lemme!" She begged.

"No," I told her.

"But it's cute!"

I paused before pulling her outside and closing the door.

"You realize that Will already has Alyss," I whispered.

"In a sibling way, I meant," she clarified.

"Cierra, it's still a no. You remember Halt's original punishment to Will when he invented the song?"

"Yeah. He won't do it to you, though!"

I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Okay… maybe he would, but you could-"

"Cierra."

"Oh, come on! It won't be _that_ bad!"

And she forced her way past me into the house. I desperately tried to chase her down, closing the door on my way. She had made her way up to where the three Rangers were sleeping - apparently, still keeping the blanket fort up - and had pulled out her phone. I rushed to knock the phone out of her hand, but she backed away just as I was trying to tackle her. Instead, I landed on a rather shocked Will.

"Song," I whispered, and his face went faintly paler, and he pulled at Cierra's arm while I stole the phone, and ran out of the room, into my own room. I glanced around for somewhere to hide it, and my eyes landed on the box that held the more dangerous parts of my Ranger's Apprentice collection - books five through twelve, anyway. I threw it in and closed the lid just as Cierra came in, having finally succeeded in shaking off a fearful Will.

"Where'd you put it," she said. I feigned innocence.

"Where'd I put what?"

"My phone! Don't play dumb!"

"I didn't put it anywhere," I said, walking calmly past her out of the room. She watched my back suspiciously. Of course, the damn phone had to start ringing. Her eyes lit up, and I realized a moment too late what the ringtone meant.

"Cierra, no!" I cried as she pulled her phone out of the box victoriously and ran past me, back into the boys' room.

Long story short, Will and I ended up in that tree that night.

"This is your fault," I told him with annoyance.

"I know," he replied glumly.


	6. Gilan Can't Tell the Difference

**Hi. Sorry, writer's block got me v.v but I'm back now, even if this is a very short chapter... I'm currently writing a much longer one and trying to puzzle out what to do after that. If you have any ideas, please tell me! Anyway... Reviews!**

 **hopeweaver19: Thanks, I loved the ending too! XD Honestly, I think the whole chapter was just working up to that scene in my mind.**

 **Ranger-Corpses: I loved that. I'm just like, "what would Gilan have taken upstairs? Oh! The coffeemaker makes sense! Let's do that!"**

 **Guest: Well, I'm flattered you like my story so much! ^_^**

 **Disclaimer: I am not Flanagan. My last name does not start with an F, for starters.**

 **Seven: Gilan Can't Tell the Difference.**

The next morning, I woke up in a _very_ bad mood. It's no wonder why, seeing as how I spent the whole night up in a tree. Will was already gone, so I swung myself down and landed hard on my back on the ground. I groaned and sat up, trying to blink some of the exhaustion out of my system. This was _not_ a good way to start the day. I managed, somehow, to make it inside, where I found Gilan and Halt sitting at the table with coffee, and two other cups on the table. Where Will was, I hadn't the slightest idea, nor did I necessarily care at that moment.

"Good morning," Gilan said, cheer clashing with my mood.

"Hello," I said - rather grumpily.

"I made you tea," he said, and I looked up at him.

"How?"

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous about him making tea. I hadn't taught them how to use the electric kettle, only the coffee maker, so there was the slight issue of how he had done it.

"I just did what you do."

Okay, so I suppose it must have been a case of _monkey see, monkey do_.

"Okay."

At that moment, Will came out of the bathroom. That's right, I had gotten Cierra to bathroom train the three of them as punishment for blowing my cover so enormously. Gilan gestured to the two cups, and told us which was which. Tired as I was, I accepted it without a second thought.

That was my mistake.

One sip of the dark, hot drink in front of me and I realized that Gilan couldn't tell the difference between tea and coffee once poured. The look on Will's face told me that Gilan had mixed up the cups. The look of absolute shock on Gilan's face was priceless, though. I got up, made a 'one moment' symbol with my hand, and ran into the bathroom before letting the mix-up coffee spill from my mouth into the sink. A little coughing and spluttering later, and I was able to leave again. I shot an icy glare at Gilan before making my way upstairs to take a hot shower, clean the dirt and tree sap from myself, and put on dry, clean clothes before making any further actions with the Rangers. I couldn't guarantee that I wouldn't strangle someone if I didn't clear my head first.

One calming, hot shower later, and I was in a pair of jeans with an Undertale hoodie on, I padded back downstairs to get breakfast and something to drink. Something to drink… that hadn't been made by any Rangers, that is. Once again, wasn't certain I wouldn't try to strangle someone if something went wrong.

Only Will was at the table, and Cierra had come downstairs and was eating happily. She noticed my arrival and seemed to forget that her video had landed me and Will in a tree for the night.

"Morning!" She said, rather happily.

"Hello," I replied while getting my own breakfast.

"How'd you sleep?"

I turned to her, put down the tupperware I was holding, closed the fridge, and glared at her.

"Just. Wonderfully," I said, my voice laced with all the icy sarcasm I could muster. Cierra nodded slowly, but didn't say anything else. I picked the tupperware up again and headed over to the counter and made myself something I could carry around and eat as I went. Gilan entered the room, and I glared at him, and he slowly backed out, realizing I was still in a bad mood.

"What did he do to you?" Cierra asked, clearly unaware of his mix-up earlier.

"Mixed up tea and coffee," Will and I said in unison. Cierra nodded in realization and her mouth opened into an 'o'.

"That… makes sense."

We didn't see Gilan any more that morning, and soon enough, the three of us were in the car, going to school.

Lunch wasn't much better. Isa and Cassidy seemed extraordinarily loud to me, and I was _definitely_ in a worse mood than I usually was. About half-way through the class period, Isa noticed.

"Hey, what's up with grumpy mc. Grumpypants over there?" she asked Will. He glanced at me, and I responded.

"I'm not deaf. Also, _someone_ " I stressed the point by staring metaphorical holes into Will's head, "decided he wanted to practice technology use while expecting another certain someone to _not_ find out at some point."

Will shrank into the chair.

"There was also an incident this morning regarding coffee and tea," he added, and Isa nodded.

"What set of certain someones were involved?" Cassidy asked.

"Him and Halt, and a _certain parody song._ "

Cassidy's mouth opened into an 'o' shape. Will continued to try to become one with the chair. Wisely, they left me be for the rest of the lunch period.


	7. Some Serious Stuff Happens

**Hi, sorry I missed a week, I realized at something like 7:30 PM that I hadn't typed up this chapter and, therefore because of a set of rules at my house regarding bedtimes, could not both type it up and upload it without going over my screen time limit for the day. But here it is now.**

 **Reviews!**

 **hopeweaver19: I shall use that idea! I'm writing it up on paper, actually, and so far it's pretty funny...**

 **Ranger Girl: Thanks! The thing is, I'm a little nervous about writing canon characters, so that might be a factor. I'll try to work him in more, though, thanks for the feedback! Also, I would bring in the Herons, if it weren't for the fact that I'm still on book 1 and I really don't want spoilers for the rest of the books. Also, I'm not sure how well I could write them, being on book 1. . But, once I finish, if this is still going I can try to work them in somehow! ^_^**

 **Ranger_Corpses: No, it's not good. That's probably why I wrote it. XD**

 **(TW for mentions of drug abuse. But if you've read the third book, it probably won't bother you much. Still, because I'm a good person(am I really though?) I shall put this here.)**

 **Disclaimer: I'm not Flanagan. If I were... well, the series likely would have turned out far differently.**

* * *

 **Eight: Some serious stuff happens.**

The next day wasn't nearly as eventful until second period. Not only was this my least favorite class - health - but I maybe forgot what we were learning about at the time, and things maybe didn't go so well.

It had started out fine. I was half-asleep, just taking notes on the content. We were in the drugs and alcohol unit, and my half-asleep brain didn't register quite what this meant for Will until I found myself writing down the words _drug addiction_ , and I paused. Oh. Oh no. I turned towards Will, who was sitting next to me, and saw his face pale, his pen held tight in his hand, which seemed frozen. Oh dear, that's right...Skandia had already happened for him… I raised my hand. The teacher turned to me.

"Yes, Alyssa?"

"Can I… uh… can I take my friend outside for a moment? I think he needs some fresh air," I said, trying to be as vague as possible. Will _really_ needed to get out of this room. The teacher nodded. I slid my notebook over to Cierra.

"Please take notes for me," I asked, and she nodded as I pulled Will out of the classroom and into the fresh air outside of the school building. He was _shaking_.

"Hey, hey, Will, can you hear me?" I asked. Will nodded, barely noticable. "Hey, look at me."

I turned his head to look at me, and his eyes… oh my god, just _hearing_ about drug addictions were having a really, really bad effect on him.

"You're OK. You're not in Skandia. Okay? Do you hear me? You are _safe_ now, no one's gonna force you to do _anything_ that's dangerous for you."

Will nodded, and his eyes began to return to normal, and tears started to well up in his eyes. Jeez louis, I was going to have a _lot_ to explain to Halt once we got back home…

"Do you think you can go back into the classroom?" I asked as softly as I could. Will shook his head. "Alright. Do you want me to tell the teacher why you can't re-join the class, or do you want me to make something up?"

"M-make something up…" Will said shakily. At least he was talking, that was some progress made.

"Okay. Do you want to just wait out here, or do you want me to come back out afterwards?"

"I… I can wait."

"Alright."

 _Class is almost over,_ I thought with relief. He wouldn't be waiting for too long, but still… I walked back into the classroom, and Cierra shot me a questioning look, as did the teacher.

"Is your friend able to join us again?" He asked, and I shook my head, my brain scrambling for a made-up reason.

"No, he's… got some really bad memories surrounding some opioid drugs, his… uhm… grandfather had an addiction that led to his death," I freewheeled, and Cierra shot me a look that said _nice save there._ The teacher nodded.

"Alright. I can see how this topic might cause him grief."

"Thanks for understanding," I said as I sat back down, mind still worried about Will.

* * *

As the bell rang, I got out of the classroom as fast as I could and met back up with Will outside. He seemed much calmer, and it was lunch now, so he didn't have to worry about class periods for a little longer.

"You holdin' up ok?" I asked, and Will nodded. "By the way, I told my teacher that your grandfather died from drug abuse, just in case he asks about it."

"Thanks for that," Will said, I could see tear tracks that had run down his eyes. I nodded.

"Of course. C'mon, let's go eat."

Cierra, Will and I walked into the classroom and sat down with Isa and Cassidy, who seemed happy as could be. Will still seemed a little off-put, but that didn't really surprise me that much. I mean, Will had just had some kind of freeze-up in regards to just the topic of drug abuse. He definitely seemed to be doing much better than before, though, so that was good.

"Hey, guys," Isa said, waving. I waved back, and sat down. Will sat down, still a little shaky.

"Will? You okay?" Cassidy asked, and I shook my head sharply. Too late, of course.

"What's up?" Isa asked. Will stiffened, and I wanted to slap Isa into next week.

"We're gonna go _back_ outside," I said, glaring, leading Will out of the room.

"I just-" Isa started, but the door slammed closed before I could hear the rest of what she was trying to say. Will sat down again.

"I don't… why…" he mumbled, face in his hands.

"It wasn't your fault."

"But it was! I'm the one who insisted on going back on the bridge."

"And if you hadn't," I cut in, choosing my words. "Araluen would be under Morgarath's control."

Will was silent. I just sat out there with him. After a while, I spoke back up.

"You think you can go back in?"

Will thought for a moment, then nodded. We stood up, and went back into the classroom, where Cierra's worried eyes shot to the door, an unspoken question lying there.

"Aly, what was-" Cassidy started, then I cut her off.

"We're not going to bring it up."

Cassidy's mouth clicked shut. Ah, it was going to be a long day if this continued.

* * *

The rest of the school day went fairly smoothly, and by the time I was driving Will back home, he had basically returned to his typical self, and I had almost forgotten this morning until I pulled into the driveway. Now, I wanted to slam my head onto the wheel. This was going to be fun…

We walked into the house, finding it suspiciously quiet. Not just that, but the lights were off. This worried me greatly, given the Rangers in the house. I froze as the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and the front door closed. Then I felt the ice cube down the back of my shirt and I scrambled to remove it, Gilan's laughter filling my ears.

"For crying out loud, Gilan!" I exclaimed once the ice fell on the floor. "Don't do that!"

"It was pretty funny," Will commented - unhelpfully. I glared at him. He grinned, his hands going up in surrender. I was going to get back at them some day in the near future…

"Well, in any case, how'd the day go?" Gilan was talking to Will now. Will stiffened slightly, glancing at me. Gilan's eyes followed his.

"Did something happen?"

Well, this was problematic… at least Halt wasn't here…

"Oh, hello Halt," Gilan said, his attention cutting to a point right over my shoulder. My heart sank.

"What was this about something happening?" I felt his unnerving gaze on the back of my neck, and I desperately just wanted to hide in my room.

"I… uh… I may have forgotten _exactly_ what we were learning in Health today, and… um… it _may_ have involved… uh… d-drug abuse…?" I said, picking my words as carefully as I possibly could. I felt two pairs of eyes narrow at me. "But once I _did_ realize I got him out of the classroom as quickly as I could."

Gilan seemed to relax a little bit, but Halt certainly didn't.

"Halt, I'm okay," Will commented. "Just surprised me was all…"

"If you're sure…" Halt suspicious gaze lingered on me for a moment more before leaving me and turning to Will. "Since you're back, why don't you go practice?"

Will sent Halt a pleading look. Predictably, Halt was unmoved by it, and Will stalked out to the backyard to practice. Halt followed, and I moved to go upstairs, but was stopped by Gilan. I looked up, and his face did not make me very relaxed.

"You uh… might not wanna go up there…"

Naturally, this urged me up the stairs at a quicker pace, Gilan running after me. Something told me I was _not_ going to be pleased with what I was going to find upstairs. 

* * *

**I'm sorry, we've got some serious stuff here. We're also in the actual drug and alcohol unit in my health class irl, so that's probably where I got the idea.**

 **Also, for you guys reading Skandian Slaves, you've got a double upload day, since I'm not waiting for Saturday again. BC I'll forget.**


	8. Update

Hey.

Soo... this isn't really a chapter. I've run out of creative drive for this story, I'm having some really serious emotional turmoil at the moment which makes it near impossible to concentrate on writing... anything, really, and there's a lot of school stress at the moment.

I'm really sorry guys. I know that you were looking forward to another chapter, but I really don't have any motivation to write anything right now. I'm only continuing to update my other Ranger's Apprentice story because I have all the chapters already written out. Technically, I'm still wanting to write the epilogue for that story, but I really don't have the motivation to do that.

So, what this means is basically that "How Did This Even Happen" will likely be going on hiatus. I'm not sure when that might end, it could be indefinite if I never find the motivation to continue this. I'm barely scraping through my final exams with the motivation I have now, and I'm lucky that I've kept high grades through the rest of the semester or this week could have been a true nightmare for me.

Once again, really truly sorry that I'm giving you an update only to say that there might not be an actual chapter for a while. I'll try to get the motivation to continue this, I swear, but if it doesn't happen... there's not really anything I can do about that. Everything feels like it's just dragging along, but at a too-fast pace for me to keep up with, and this is something that I'm not going to be able to focus on until I get other parts of my life that are messing with my energy and motivation levels at least under some amount of control.


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